Lord Mandelson slopes off with Nat Rothschild

Clearly unabashed by my revelations about his eventful holiday as a guest of
Nat Rothschild in Corfu during the summer, Lord Mandelson is to spend
Christmas at the financier's chalet in Klosters.

Tim Walker

10:00PM GMT 23 Dec 2008

"Peter will be coming out for Christmas," I am told. "He is becoming something of a regular at his chalet."

The Business Secretary's stays with Lord Rothschild's son and heir at the fashionable Austrian ski resort are always lavish occasions. When he stayed in August another member of the house party, Yulia Wegg-Prosser, claimed in her blog that their host had urged his friends to make good use of his expensive fleet of cars, which include a Porsche and a Ferrari. Mandelson's relationship with Rothschild became a major talking point when I disclosed on October 6 that the former European trade commissioner had, while staying with Nat in Corfu, been entertained aboard the yacht of Oleg Deripaska, the aluminium tycoon, whose businesses benefited from tariffs the commission set.

It is not known whether the pair will be joined over Christmas by Deripaska, who bought a chalet in Davos, in the Swiss Alps.

One trusts Mandelson will offer better value on Christmas Day than he did when he stayed with Nat in August. Then, Mrs Wegg-Prosser noted on her blog how he spent some time "snoring on the sofa". That entry was allowed to stand, but it appears she was prevailed upon to remove the one about Nat's relaxed attitude to the use of his cars.